


stars in your eyes, lightning in my heart

by EzzyDean



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, M/M, Multi, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:50:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9850022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: Sawamura Daichi is a rogue, a fighter, a charmer, and a bit of a thief.  He has a past, like everyone does, that occasionally comes back to bite him in the ass and he has had more than few bed partners over the years (not that anyone really minds, other than the ones who threaten to cut off his bits and pieces.)Iwaizumi Hajime is a scholar, a magic weaver, a stoic face in the midst of chaos.  His childhood was filled with mayhem even before Daichi ever crossed his path and his friends have always been of an interesting variety.Matsukawa Issei is a smooth talker, a soothing balm, the voice of almost-reason in the group.  Noble born and bred but with the soul of a wanderer intent on seeing everything on this world and any others.Kyoutani Kentarou is a shifter, a heady mixture of fire and air who answers to no one but himself, but has bound himself to Daichi.The past, as it seems, never manages to stay where you left it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> written for Daichi Rare Pair week, the AU may extend into other prompts someday and it's really nowhere near as serious (for now) as the summary seems.

“What in the gates of hell is this shit?”

Daichi wanted to wake up slowly.  He wanted to savor the warm fall morning.  Wanted to lounge in the dappled sunlit grass he was sprawled in.  Wanted to-

Wait.

He and Issei had fallen asleep tangled together in Kyoutani’s giant saddle last night.  Why the hell was he on the ground?

He sat up, looking around the clearing for the familiar flash of Kyoutani’s shimmering wings or wide tail or scaly snout.  All he could find was the giant saddle tipped on its side on the opposite side of the clearing and his pack laying open a few feet away with his clothes practically falling out of it.

“This is complete shit.”  The voice came from a nearby pile of stones.

“Kyoutani?”  Daichi called out groggily.  “Is that you?”

“No it’s an angry fucking rabbit looking for food yes it’s me.”  No.  The voice was behind the trunk of the extra wide tree just past the stones.

“Why are you behind the tree?  Why are you,” Daichi yawned, “ugh.  Why are you not scaly and snarly?”

“Because life hates me apparently.”

Daichi scrubbed his face with his hands and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.  This, unfortunately, was not the strangest morning he had experienced  It probably wasn’t even in the top ten.  He shoved his clothes back in his pack and tied it shut again then headed towards the upturned saddle.

“I feel awkward talking to a tree,” he said over his shoulder.

“Yeah well I feel awkward being in a puny human form wearing your trousers so deal with it.”

“Why don’t you just shift back?”

“Oh gee,” the tree scoffed, “why didn’t I think of that?”

“I just woke up.  Can you not be so…”

“What, Daichi?”  The tree asked tersely as Daichi crept towards it.  “Can I not be so what?  And please remember that I am nice enough to carry you asses around the world on my back.”

“So charming and adorable and kindhearted.”

Kyoutani whipped his very much human head towards Daichi as he peeked around the tree and glared at him.  Daichi rarely flinched away from a glare from his scaly dragon-like eyes when he’s fully shifted so being glared at by Kyoutani’s human form really isn’t all that frightening.  Plus Daichi once pissed Hajime off enough to stop speaking to him for a week and a half.  Not much had ever managed to really frighten him after that.

“Kindly fuck off.”

Daichi stared at Kyoutani as he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, face a picture of confident determination.  He could feel the familiar tug of magic under his skin as Kyoutani prepared to shift and Daichi had a moment to lament the loss of the pair of pants that Kyoutani had borrowed from him, before everything snapped and the air shimmered around them as the magic dissipated.

“So you seriously can’t shift back?”

“I have been trying since before Matsukawa wandered off to go make out with Iwaizumi or whatever they’re doing and that was like right around sunrise.”

Daichi glanced at the giant saddle on the other side of the clearing, then to their packs and the package they were supposed to be delivering.  “Damn.”

“Yep.”

—

Issei draped himself against Daichi’s back like a familiar well worn cloak as they watched Hajime settle on the grass next to Kyoutani with a book open on his lap.  It was the book that neither Issei nor Daichi were allowed to read.  They weren’t even allowed to open it and were only allowed to touch it if absolutely necessary.  It was not exactly a safe book for most people to have access to and honestly Daichi figured that the only way Hajime had it was because he made some weird convoluted pact with a demon.  Hajime never denied it nor did he offer any other explanation.

“Puberty,” Issei mock whispered in Daichi’s ear.

Kyoutani stiffened and glared at them but was kept from jumping up and tackling them by Hajime raising his hand and pointing at Kyoutani.

“Stay here.  Ignore them.”  Hajime scowled down at his book and made notes in it after tracing the path of Kyoutani’s shifter tattoos down his arms. Daichi was a mercenary, a fighter, a thug some would say.  A rogue of sorts.   But he would never dare to write in a book, even one that he officially owned.  He figured that was part of what made Hajime their ever intrepid scholar.  That willingness to find answers no matter what.

Daichi’s tried and true methods for problem solving often involved hitting things until they worked or stopped making weird noises or did whatever it was he wanted them to do.  That was why he was the fighter.  

Issei peeled himself off of Daichi’s back only to flop and lounge across his lap instead.  He reached up to play with the necklace hanging around Daichi’s neck like an overgrown cat.

Issei was a nice balance between the two of them.  He could hit with the best of them, Daichi knew this from experience, but he was just as likely to sweet talk his way out of a situation and use the brains that he had but always pretended he didn’t.

“I hate fall.”  Kyoutani sneezed loudly, he still hadn’t put a shirt on, and frowned at the tattoos on the back of his hand.  “Give me summer.  Even winter.  Just not this fall shit.”

Kyoutani rounded out their little crew as their weird animal companion.  He was a shifter and though Daichi wasn’t entirely sure just what it was that he shifted into since it was some strange combination that seemed to be part dragon part bison part scaly lizardy bird thing he knew that Kyoutani was his, theirs, no matter how much he whined and grumbled and snarled at them.  He had yanked all three of them, individually and all together, out of nasty situations more than a few times.  He just really hated being in his human form.

Kyoutani snarled at Hajime and fell back into the grass with a groan.

He really, really hated being in his human form.

“Actually,” Hajime said as he glanced from his book to Kyoutani and then over his shoulder to Daichi and Issei.  “I think Issei might be right?  Or close to it?”  He looked down again and shut his book with a resounding thump.  “I mean there’s not a lot to go on since Kyoutani is kind of unique, even for a shifter.  But I think it might be his shift form’s transition through puberty.”

Kyoutani sat back up slowly, eyes wide, and glared at all of them.

“Do not.  Do not say-”

“Aww,” Issei cooed, sitting up in Daichi’s lap.  “Our baby is growing up.”

—

Daichi dabbed at Issei’s face much more carefully than he probably deserved given it was totally his own fault for prodding at Kyoutani like that.

“Kiss it and make it better?”  Issei tried to grin and then grimaced when his lip split open again.  Daichi shook his head and pressed the rag in his hand hard against the split, zero sympathy in his eyes as Issei whined in protest.


	2. Chapter 2

“Remind me again why I shouldn’t just gut you where you stand?”

Daichi froze with his hand halfway to a bag of herbs and pasted the sunniest grin he could manage onto his face.  Kyoutani stopped grumbling about the inconvenience of having to wear pants long enough to give him a disturbed look and then turned away to follow Hajime out of the main street of shops towards, most likely, the slightly seedy armor and bookshop that Hajime liked to frequent.

“Cause you love me?” Daichi finally managed to say.

Issei snorted from where he was poking through a display of charms and blank rune stones a few feet away.

“Try again,” the voice behind Daichi said coldly.

“Because you dislike displays of violence?”

“I could make an exception for you.”

Daichi chuckled and grabbed the bag of herbs from the basket before he turned and showed his bright grin.

“You always made exceptions for me, Morisuke.”

“Yaku,” he hissed between his teeth.  “You lost your ‘Morisuke’ privileges when you left me naked in a bed you claimed was yours and I almost got arrested.”

“Oh?”  Issei perked up as he abandoned the charms in favor of edging towards the dimly lit shop next door.  Daichi could hear a heavy bass beat pumping through the air when the door opened and a groups of dark clothed teens shuffled out, studded collars and jackets shining in the morning light.

“No.”  He pointed towards Issei.  “No leather or spikes or torn black shirts or weird ass frog figurines.  Not today.”

“His name is Pepe, Daichi.  And he is my soulmate.”

“I’m not sure if I feel better or worse knowing you left me and wound up with this,” Yaku stated calmly before he hopped up onto his counter with a bowl of silver charms and wires and beads and chains in his lap.

“Anyway.  As great as it is to see you alive and well, my dear.  The reason we’re looking through this shop,” Daichi said as he stared pointedly at Issei’s hand reaching out for a light orange blank rune stone, “is because we’re looking for something for a shifter.”  Issei grinned and wiggled his fingers at Daichi.

“Is something wrong with Kyoutani?  Did something happen to your charm?  I made that thing up myself it should be good for years yet.”  Yaku reached out and yanked Daichi forward and slid his fingers into the neck of Daichi’s shirt - much to Issei’s apparent amusement since he started snickering at Daichi’s surprised face - to pull his silver necklace out.

“Your charms, as always, are masterpieces and work like, well, a charm.”  Yaku rolled his eyes at Daichi’s lame joke but still blushed a little as he studied the necklace and the magic woven into it and the beads strung on it carefully.

“So then what do you need a charm for a shifter for?”  Yaku eyed Issei warily.  “How many shifters do you know?”

“Closely?  Still just Kyoutani.  And it is for him.  But it’s more to help with a problem he’s having.”

Issei dropped himself against Daichi’s back so that his weight pushed Daichi forward and he had to slam his hands down on the counter on either side of Yaku’s hips to keep from crashing into Yaku.

“Our shifter is going through puberty,” Issei stated plainly, chin hooking over Daichi’s shoulder.  He didn’t say anything out loud about the flush covering Daichi and Yaku’s faces at the sudden close proximity but his grin was saying plenty.  “And his control is pretty good but he keeps trying to shift without meaning to and it’s starting to pull at everyone’s magic.  Even people who don’t really have magic in them.”

Yaku hummed and lightly kicked the counter with his heel.

“I think I might have something,” he finally said with a wicked grin.  “But, Sawamura Daichi, it is going to cost you.”

—

A soft crunch of boot on tile alerted Daichi that he wasn’t alone on the rooftop.  The steady breath in as a second crunch sounded let him know it was simply Hajime joining him.  Hajime settled next to him carefully and pressed their shoulders together.  Daichi reached out and twined their fingers together.  It was a clear night and they sat in silence for awhile and stared up at the sky, content to simply be in each other’s company.

“The stars really are brilliant, aren’t they,” Hajime finally broke the silence.  Daichi glanced over and felt his lungs seize at the sight of Hajime painted in moonlight, stars reflecting in his dark eyes, glasses shoved up into his spiky hair.  He let his gaze travel down to the smear of ink on Hajime’s chin and over Hajime’s well worn jacket and faded vest, runes and wards and summons woven into the fabric and glowing faintly in the moonlight, down to where Hajime’s ink stained fingers were tangled with Daichi’s calloused ones.

“You’re far more brilliant than any of them,” Daichi whispered, bringing their hands up to kiss the back of Hajime’s.

“Do you have lines like that for all the scholars and mages and charm weavers you meet?”  A smile danced across Hajime’s face before he dropped his gaze from the sky and met Daichi’s eyes.  “Or just the ones who want to gut you on sight and that you leave alone and naked in beds that aren’t either of yours?”

A raucous batch of laughter floated up to them from the open windows of the inn below them and Daichi groaned.

“Of course he told you.”

Hajime laughed and brought their hands to his lips to kiss the back of Daichi’s hand in return.

“He was so thrilled I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I knew about it, about you two, already.”

“I just don’t understand how I’m the one he’s so pissed at.  You were right there with us.  You left him all naked in that bed too.”

Hajime’s laughter wrapped Daichi in a cloak and pulled him closer until he gave in and dropped his head onto Hajime’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Hajime finally admitted, “I was there.  But you were the one to talk him into that bed.  Not me.  I was just along for the ride.”

“Traitor,” Daichi muttered.

“Love you too,” Hajime replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Daichi smoothed down his tailored jacket for the last time before he took a deep breath and opened the heavy doors of the meeting hall.  Issei followed a step behind, as comfortable and confident in his fitted trousers and jacket as he was in a pair of ragged jeans and a ratty old t-shirt.  Daichi nodded sympathetically to the golden haired dwarven receptionist balanced precariously on a stack of boxes behind the desk trying to reach something on the top of the bookcase that, from the look of it, her silver haired elven friend had put there.

A series of muttered curses and muffled growls and shimmering laughter followed them through the lobby and into the maze of hallways.  Every shadow made him twitch for the daggers under his jacket and every closed door they passed made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.  He itched to check and see if they were locked or not, to explore what they were hiding.  It was the adventurer in him, sure, that curiosity to explore the unknown.  But it was also the fact that this felt very much like a trap especially since Issei had been requested to join him in this meeting with people he hadn’t been able to glean the identity of.

“I don’t like it,” Daichi murmured as they turned down yet another hallway.  The muted beige walls and boring gray carpet made his skin crawl in a way that not even the squelchy ground of the Broodmire Caverns had done when he and Hajime had stumbled through them when they were thirteen.

“Don’t worry babe.  I don’t either.”  Issei pressed a hand against his lower back for a moment and then it was gone as they turned the last corner and spotted a pair of guards outside the door leading to the main meeting hall.

To his credit Daichi didn’t pause when he recognized the colors and emblems on the guards’ uniforms.

He did not flinch when he stepped inside and bowed to the three people who rose to greet them.

He didn’t even look away when he met the eyes of the woman in the center.

“Sawamura Daichi.  Matsukawa Issei.”  She smiled at them and gestured to the chairs across from her.  “Thank you both for joining us on such short notice.”

Daichi remembered that smile.  Remembered it pressed against his shoulder.  Remembered the ragged breaths and throaty laughter that had accompanied it.

She waved away the two men who were with her and they left begrudgingly, throwing warning glares over their shoulders at Daichi and Issei as they made their way to the door, and then it was just the three of them.

“Don’t worry, Matsukawa.  This isn’t an official visit.”

“Says your uniform and the armed guards who just left.”

Yui glanced down at her black jacket and the vivid orange sash that cut across her chest and reached up for the golden circlet in her hair.  The perfect picture of royalty.

Daichi was so screwed.

“If I was going to drag you back with me I wouldn’t have shown up in my nice clothes.”

“Good luck dragging me back,” Issei growled.  There was a story here that Daichi hadn’t been aware of before and once they were out of their current situation he might have to try and get it out.  But for the moment he was focused on just getting back out of the meeting hall and meeting up with Kyoutani and Hajime.  Preferably alive.

Yui smiled at Issei and then turned to Daichi.

Alive was looking less likely by the second.

“Yui,” he said calmly.

“Daichi,” she purred.  He could feel Issei’s stare on him but he refused to look away from Yui.  He started to send out prayers to whatever deities or demons were listening - even Oikawa who was probably listening and cackling maniacally at him because that is how he and Daichi worked together -  because he was pretty certain he was going to die soon but he was starting to be unsure just who was going to kill him.

 

–

 

“My sister?”  Issei stared at him incredulously.  Daichi stared up at the cloudy sky like he had never seen a better, more beautiful day in his life.  He was just happy to have made it out alive.  He could kiss the ground right now.  “My.  My sister!?”

“Your sister.  How does that even work?”

“Dude!”  Issei’s voiced hit a pitch that Daichi would not normally associate with him and Daichi turned around when he realized Issei wasn’t just a step behind him anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Daichi apologized.  “The last time I saw her she had her hands wrapped around my naked bits and was threatening to cut them off and then string me up with them if she ever so much as glimpsed my shadow again.”  Issei stared at him for a minute and shook his head slowly.  Finally he let out a disgusted noise and caught back up with Daichi.  “Also to be fair I didn’t even know you had a sister.”

“Okay first of all I have seen your naked bits and as much as I love them they are not enough to string you up with.  Secondly I want details about how it happened but not about what happened because ew.  Thirdly we’re siblings in a very convoluted manner that is most easily boiled down to something like step-siblings or half-siblings bound by blood and eternity and the fate of the world or something.  I dunno.  I slept through that meeting I think.”  They’ve made it almost back to the city center where Kyoutani and Hajime said they’d be waiting when Issei finally spoke again.  “Do you sleep with everyone you meet?  Or just the ones who you know will threaten you with bodily harm when you leave them?”

“Not everyone,” Daichi said as they spotted Kyoutani leaning against a brightly lit arcade and scowling at the cement.  “But I can’t help that I’m so charming and I appreciate passionate people.”

“You would find someone threatening to cut your dick off hot.”

Kyoutani’s nose scrunched in disgust at the statement.  “I don’t want to know,” he growled.  “Just get Iwaizumi out of there so we can go?  I’m fucking hungry and tired.”

“Get him yourself?”  Issei barely avoided Kyoutani’s fist hitting his chin.  He wrapped his fingers around Kyoutani’s wrist and rubbed his thumb against Kyoutani’s pulse.  “Sorry.  I was just joking.  Shitty move, shitty afternoon.”

He waved Daichi inside and Daichi left them, Issei murmuring something soothing into Kyoutani’s ear and shielding him from the noise and colors that rushed outside like eager cats when Daichi opened the door to the arcade.  He was actually rather impressed Kyoutani had managed to stay so close to the noise and colors and bustle of the arcade for as long as he had and made a note to tell Kyoutani as much later.

Colors pulsed around him, pulling him deeper into the darkened arcade, the only lights were the ones coming from the screens of the video games set up along the aisles and the lines of dim lights magicked along the floors.  Most of the symbols and words were basic runes and charms to keep people from trying to cheat at the games or try to steal their money back.  Daichi’s favorites had always been, and still were, the random curses and inventive swears that were peppered unsuspectingly through the carpets.  He stepped squarely on one that implied something unsavory that he could have done to him by a man with extra thumbs when he heard Hajime’s voice from a few feet away.

“Sawamura Daichi.  I left you alone less than six hours the last - and only other - time we were in this city.  How did you manage to talk not one, but two people into bed with you in that time?”

Daichi hopped over the counter separating the arcade from the office behind it and propped himself in the doorway with a grin.

“Well I am charming.  And dashing.  And rouge-like.”

“Technically it was the couch and not a bed,” Kenma said flatly from where he was lounging on said couch.  He gave Daichi a slight nod of acknowledgment and then went back to fiddling with the new charm Yaku had given them earlier that week with the instructions that the owners of the arcade would need to tinker the last few specifics into it for it to work.

“And I mostly just watched,” Nishinoya added before ducking back under the desk to work on whatever it was he was working on.  It had a lot of colors shining from it and there were a few unholy whines and screeches coming out and Daichi focused back on Hajime.  Who was giving Daichi his patented Fond Exasperation look.

“I can not leave you unsupervised ever can I?”

Daichi shrugged.  Really.  It wasn’t his fault he was so good at what he did.


	4. Chapter 4

Soulmates were tricky little things. Not every pair had the same signs or abilities or effects.  Not every pair was a pair.   Not everyone had one.  Not everyone who had one liked their soulmate and lived happily ever after together.  Some soulmates actually preferred to stay as far away from each other as possible.

Sometimes they found each other anyway.

It was not long after Daichi had tried to pick a fight for the fifth time that day - this last one had been with a nice old lady who accidentally bumped him while they were walking the main stalls in the open market - that Hajime figured it out.  Mostly because he looked up in time to see Yahaba pinning a nearby shop owner to the wall behind their stall while Daichi was attempting to square up with some little girl - fight six- over what looked like a cat sized dragon plushie with tricolor fur.

Issei stopped when he realized none of the others were still following him.  He shuffled back through the crowd and clapped Hajime on the shoulder.

“What do your elf-eyes see, Hajime?”

“You being a dickwad that’s what.”  His eyes darted around the crowd and Issei looked too, though he didn’t have the slightest clue what they were looking for.  Other than maybe Kyoutani because Issei lost him like five minutes ago and was hoping the others had been keeping a closer watch on him than Issei had been.  Hajime’s eyes lit up in recognition but Issei still didn’t see Kyoutani nearby.  

He stepped over and hooked his elbow around Daichi’s throat to drag him away from the little girl he was apparently determined to fight over a stuffed animal they didn’t need or, as far as Issei knew, want.  He had no idea who Hajime had been looking at until he saw an arm waving at them from behind a nearby stall.  Hajime drug Daichi towards the stall and Issei followed.

“Hey, Tanaka,” Hajime called out as he turned the corner.  “How’s it going?”  Tanaka grinned at them.

“Oh you know.  Same shit different day.”

“Tsukishima, Yahaba,” Hajime said.  “How are you?”

Tsukishima flipped them off with the hand not buried in Yahaba’s hair while he did his best to detach Yahaba from the apparently random shop owner he was currently pinning to the wall and making out with.

Tanaka looked past Issei’s shoulder and winked.  “Oh, hey Kyoutani!  Almost didn’t recognize you with pants on.”

—

The door rattled a few times and Hajime wedged the chair a little more securely under the handle.

“We do our best to stay away from each other.” Tanaka explained as he propped his feet up in Tsukishima’s lap on the nearby couch only to have Tsukishima push them right off with a scowl.  “Nothing personal.  Or well.  Maybe?”

“We get along well enough but have different ways of doing things and different clients and different strengths,” Hajime explained a little more clearly.

“Plus those two are soulmates and whenever they’re within like two miles of each other they start to share emotions.  Which generally means that Yahaba is making out with anything he can and Sawamura wants to fight everything at the drop of a hat.  It’s kind of a disaster.”  Tanaka sighed and stuck his feet in Tsukishima’s lap again.  Tsukishima let them stay there this time with a roll of his eyes.

“Also.  It’s hard to maintain a decent working reputation when you’ve got a pair of more or less rivals who constantly want to fight-fuck each other and also everyone else,” Tsukishima added.  “So when we found them both half naked in the bathroom at a royal function a few years ago because neither of them could control themselves and we all nearly got thrown into the dungeons for the third time that week we decided it would be best to just keep them apart as much as possible.”

“Though we still run into each other a few times a year.”  Hajime winced at the muffled groan that came from behind the door.

“Do you always lock them in a closet?”  Issei finally asked.

“No but I figured since it was Valentine’s Day it was only fitting that they spend it with each other.”

“In a closet?”

“I really don’t want to see them doing whatever it is they’re doing to each other,” Hajime told Issei as the door rattled again.  “Believe me I’ve seen plenty.  But if you want to, go right ahead.”

—

Kyoutani grumbled and growled but let Daichi pull him into his lap and wrap his arms around Kyoutani’s waist.  

“You are the weirdest pet ever,” Daichi laughed when Kyoutani finally turned and hooked his chin over Daichi’s shoulder to stare morosely out the window.

“’M not a pet and you know it,” Kyoutani said petulantly.  “Least favorite description: I am an animal companion.  Most preferred is that I am just the shifter in the group.”

Kyoutani’s hand slipped between them and slid up to toy with the silver chain around Daichi’s neck.  There was a matching silver chain around Kyoutani’s neck, enchanted to stretch and shrink when Kyoutani transformed, and the string of charms on Daichi’s chain matched a series of tattoos crawling down Kyoutani’s chest to curl around his heart.  The newest charm had settled into place against Daichi’s collarbone and he could feel the answering tug of Kyoutani’s magic under his skin.

“Tomorrow,” he whispered with a grin.  “Tomorrow we’ll get back out there and you can get back to your preferred skin.  Leave this flimsy human form behind for awhile.”

Kyoutani snorted, charms warm against his fingertips until he slid them past and pressed against Daichi’s even warmer skin.  “I dunno.  The flimsy human form isn’t so bad sometimes.”

—

Magic crawled along his skin, clawed through his veins, charred lines towards his heart as Kyoutani concentrated.  The world wavered and shined around them and with a rumble of thunder and crack of lightning pumping through Daichi’s heart Kyoutani was out of his human form and filling the clearing with shimmering wings and his wide scaly tail.  As Kyoutani rose into the air Daichi’s eyes were locked on the thin silver marking along his throat and the glow of silver runes twisting along his scales.

“Beautiful,” he said softly.

Kyoutani flew away with a huff of pink tinged smoke.

Daichi wasn’t too worried.  He’d be back before too long.

Until then… well Daichi still had some unfinished business with Yahaba and he knew just where to find his soulmate.


	5. Chapter 5

There is a certain freedom that can only be found in the skies.  This was something Kyoutani had always known and, since linking their magic together, Daichi knew it now too.  With their link Kyoutani could go higher and faster, could travel longer distances before needing a break, could keep himself shifted for months on end instead of having to drop out of it every few weeks to regain his energy.  There was a peacefulness that could only be found above the treetops, a calmness that was only available when watching the stars from inside the clouds.

Tranquility and serenity that was only accessible with Kyoutani’s saddle under Daichi’s feet and the curl of their link under Daichi’s skin.

He had promised Kyoutani the freedom of the skies for as long as he was capable of flying.  It was a little hard to uphold his promise in this bland room chained to a table.  Nothing about this room screamed freedom or tranquility.  The fancy stained glass windows might have had a chance if they hadn’t been behind inch wide bars of some kind of metal that dampened what little magic was in him.

“So,” the brown haired man seating himself at the table across from Daichi said, “let me just say again thank you for coming with us.”

Daichi rattled the chain connecting him to the table in answer.

“Yes, well.”  The man smiled.  “We all know your penchant for escapes.”

“Not really my forte actually.  But whatever.”

“We just have a few questions for you, Sawamura Daichi.  Then you and your companions can be on your way.”  He tucked some of his fluffy hair behind his ear and gave Daichi a reassuring smile that did nothing to actually reassure Daichi.  He had sat around tables with demons and mages and wily old wizards who gave him more reassuring smiles than that.  The part that rankled him the most wasn’t that they were stuck here being questioned.  Hell knows that they’ve been separated into dull rooms and chained to tables and chairs and questioned probably more than their fair share over the years.  

No the part that was eating away at him was that he didn’t know who they were or what they wanted or why they had each of the four of them being questioned separately like this.

 

“First.  How did you meet your companions?”

“I saved Iwaizumi from wild turkeys when we were seven.  Matsukawa and I ran into each other outside the library our first year of university.  Kyoutani sat on me,” Daichi replied honestly.

“Daichi and I have known each other since we were kids.  Matsukawa was one of my roommates at university before we dropped out.  Kyoutani tried to eat me,” Hajime answered and put his chin in his hand.

“I fell for Daichi at first sight and had Iwaizumi in my bed after five minutes.  Kyoutani let me ride him,” Issei said and scooted his chair back as far as he could so he could prop his feet on the table he was chained to.

Kyoutani growled and dropped his head to the table.  Fuck this shit.

 

“What kind of work do you do?”

Daichi shrugged.  “As a group?  We do basic merc stuff I guess?  Like deliveries and the occasional bodyguard stint and whatnot.  Personally?  I’m kind of the muscle of the group.  Iwaizumi does the thinking and the reading.  Matsukawa does other stuff.”

Hajime blinked slowly.  “We’re mercenaries.  We do mercenary type work.  Daichi hits stuff.  Matsukawa talks a lot.  Kyoutani growls.”

Issei grinned.  “Pleasure.  We have a group rate and sometimes do solo work too.  Daichi has amazing thighs.  Iwaizumi’s arms and eyes are to die for.  Kyoutani’s just big.”

Kyoutani let out a long breath and growled deep in his throat.  He was already so done with them all.

 

“You never stay put for any real length of time.  What was the reason you were in Ushar for so long?”

“There were a lot of small tasks that needed to be done and Kyoutani was feeling under the weather.  So we took a little breather.”  Daichi studied the knowing smile on his interrogator’s face.

“It had been a long time since we were there and stopped to see some acquaintances we had made the last time through while we resupplied and got some much needed rest.”  Hajime already knew the next question and only wondered how long it would be before one of the other, less patient, members of their little crew broke them all out of here.

“Family reunion.  Always a blast.  Found out who took my sister’s virginity and threatened to string him up by his bits only to find out that she had already made that threat.”  Issei was ready to get the hell out of here.  He still had to beat Daichi up for that.

Kyoutani beat his head against the table slowly and borderline painfully.

 

“What was the incident that made you drop out of university and start this career?”

“No,” Daichi stated.

“Decline,” Hajime replied.

“Fuck.  Off.”  Issei made sure to enunciate clearly.

“I am so done with this shit,” Kyoutani whispered.

The charms against his skin burned and his magic was ripped from under Daichi’s skin as Kyoutani shifted with a roar and the cracking of bones - not all of them Kyoutani’s - and the chaos of a fully grown dragon-like creature shredding his interrogation room into broken boards and shattered glass before he stormed down the hallway.  His tail whipped into the door of Issei’s room and Issei leapt out of his chair and over the table in one easy motion; he had picked the lock on his cuff within a minute of being locked into it.  Kyoutani smashed his snout into the next room and knocked out the interrogator in Hajime’s room with the door when it flew off it’s hinges.  He left Issei to free Hajime while he rampaged his way along the path the runes in his skin were tugging him down.

Daichi stood when the door creaked under the weight of Kyoutani’s heavy claws and his interrogator rose as well.

“I am sorry our chat seems to be coming to an abrupt end,” the man said as Kyoutani’s claws shattered the heavy wooden door.  “I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

Kyoutani peered into the room for a moment before he reached in and yanked the table Daichi was chained to towards himself with one sharp claw so he could carefully mangle Daichi’s chains and cuff until they fell from Daichi’s wrist.

“Let’s go, Kyoutani,” Daichi said calmly.  “We’re done here.”

—

They all curled together in the middle of Kyoutani’s large saddle, glad to be in the air again, as Kyoutani sped away from the little palace they had been held in.  Daichi could feel the calm brown eyes of his interrogator on them long after they were into the clouds and out of sight.

“They asked about university,” Issei whispered eventually.  The stars were starting to blink to life high above them and he tried to focus on those cold pinpricks of light.  “About the reason we left.”

“Hey,” Daichi said softly and untangled his hand from Hajime’s so he could reach out and tug Issei close.  Issei buried his face in Daichi’s neck and tried to breath normally.  “You’re not going back there.  None of us are.  You’re here with us now and you’re stuck with us forever.”

“It’s true,” Hajime whispered.  “I tried to get rid of him once or twice.  He always found his way back to me.”

Kyoutani soared across the sky, taking them across hills and forests and lakes, taking them far away from those prying questions into their past.

When Issei managed to doze off and dream they were not the secret filled transgressions of his, of their, past.  They weren’t the dreams of a rich kid of a prestigious family getting into trouble his silver tongue couldn’t get him back out of.  They were dreams of laughter and clearings filled with rippling magic and books bound by demons and plunges into cold lakes and the security of Daichi’s arms around his waist and Hajime’s face against his shoulder and Kyoutani’s steady heartbeat surrounding them high in the sky as his wings beat and they soared forever onward.

And when he woke it wasn’t to some plush over decorated room stuffed away in a fancy palace.  It was to the sight of Hajime pulling Daichi close and pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss by the light of the rising sun ahead of them.

The past was never going to let them go, he knew this, but he was starting to finally believe that here with Daichi he might be able to stand up to the force of it rushing over him and, if he was lucky, Daichi might finally let Issei close enough to see some more of the tantalizingly off limits to strangers pieces of his own past.


	6. Chapter 6

“Sawamura Daichi.”

Daichi groaned and rolled over so he could bury his face into Hajime’s shoulder.

“Sawamura Daichi, I know you’re up there.”

Kyoutani rumbled low in his throat.  A warning though Daichi wasn’t entirely sure if it was for Daichi himself or the man on the ground calling him out.  He didn’t really care.  He just wanted to go back to sleep.

“You will answer me, Sawamura Daichi.”

“Is he obsessed with my name or something?  Believe me I know who I am.”  

Hajime patted Daichi’s head consolingly and then shoved him away to roll over and bury his head in the blankets bunched up against the inside edge of Kyoutani’s large saddle.

“Sawamura Daichi!”

“Go answer your adoring fan before I throw you down there myself,” Hajime grumbled.  “Some of us were awake half the night with research.”

“If it’s someone you slept with please tell them visiting hours are after the sun is actually fully risen and if you left them with child then I have dibs on being godfather or cool uncle,” Issei stated.  He pushed Daichi towards the edge of the saddle without opening his eyes.  “Though he sounds familiar.  Let me see who it is before I decide if I want to be godfather of your children with him.”

Daichi finally dragged himself to his feet and stumbled over to the edge of the saddle.  The rope down was tricky, but he managed without falling and cracking his head open so that was a plus.

“Did you really think that you could truly get away?  That just because my lady let you leave you were truly free?”

The man a few feet away from him was wearing a familiar uniform, one that had haunted Daichi’s dreams for far too long, one that he had seen for a brief time a mere week before deep inside the meeting hall in Ushar before Yui had sent them from the room.

“Terushima,” Issei growled from high above Daichi.  “What the hell are you doing here?”

Terushima grinned wildly as his gaze swung up.  “Ah, Matsukawa.  Don’t worry I’m not here for you.  Today anyway.  But don’t think that you’ve been pardoned just because of your background.  You both have a lot to answer for.”

“Wouldn’t that be more of Yui’s decision and not yours?”  That wild gaze whipped back down to Daichi and he felt the familiar curl of anticipation of a fight wind around his spine.

“I, Terushima Yuuji, challenge you, Sawamura Daichi, to a duel.”

“Good,” Daichi practically purred, “I was itching for a fight.”

“Please tell me you didn’t sleep with him too.”  Daichi flipped Issei off even as he caught the sword that Hajime tossed down to him.

—

By the time they left Terushima tied to a tree the sun was nearly directly overhead and Daichi was itching for more than just a simple duel.

They decided to put as much distance between them and Terushima as possible in hopes that they would also distance themselves from what could only be Daichi’s connection to Yahaba.  It was a simple plan that would have worked absolutely fine if Tanaka hadn’t stumbled into the tiny clearing with a herd of bandits directly behind him.  As much as they were rivals they couldn’t just leave Tanaka to fend for himself.  Especially when they saw the seal dark on his throat that cut off his magic and left him largely defenseless against the heavily armed and armored bandits.

Plus Yahaba couldn’t have been too far away considering the roiling of emotions warring in Daichi’s chest that made him want to crush everything and everyone that wasn’t his into dust beneath the heel of his boot, so he motioned the others into position and waited a few moments.  The flare of emotions was stronger than he could ever remember his link to Yahaba allowing it to be but before he had the chance to mention it to Hajime or really question it Yahaba burst into the clearing and skidded to a stop next to Daichi.  Dust rose around them as Yahaba took heavy breaths and stood to his full height next to Daichi, looking down his nose at the bandits surrounding them and slowly closing in.

“Bit off more than you could chew?”  Daichi sized up the bandits to their right.

“Tsukishima may have chosen the wrong pockets to empty,” Yahaba replied as he studied the bandits to their left.  Tanaka clambered up to the safety of Kyoutani’s saddle with Hajime right behind him.  The tree branch above Daichi’s right shoulder creaked and rustled, signaling Issei slipping into place.  “No way he could have known they had magebinder in their midst though.  His link with Tanaka is the only reason he’s probably still functional.”

Daichi’s stomach bubbled with anger and his heart beat rage through his veins.  Having knowledge of bindings was one thing.  Actually using that shit against a person was an entirely different story and he wasn’t sure if the urge to find the binder and rip their throat out with his teeth was his own, Yahaba’s, or the rushing high of them both fueling each other.

“Five minutes?”  Daichi tapped his elbow into Yahaba’s side.

“Why not three?” Yahaba growled back.

Their emotions, they had found out one blustery fall evening, weren’t the only things that ramped up when they were in close proximity.  Their fighting skills, reflexes, the power of their blows, their accuracy, all jumped in a way that was frightening.  Tanaka had compared them to superheroes that day, all nigh invincible and unstoppable.  All they needed, he had said, were some tights and the ability to not play grab ass for more than ten minutes and they could almost work together reasonably.

Almost.

As it was they had the bandits laid out in under three minutes.  Issei had barely needed to lift a finger and was only out about half a dozen arrows.  Tsukishima was curled in the shadows under Kyoutani’s front leg waiting for them.  Yahaba and Daichi both barely had a scratch on them.

The moment it was over Tanaka was back out of the saddle and throwing himself into Daichi’s arms, gesturing between one of the bandits and Daichi and back again almost frantically.  Daichi carefully searched the fallen bandit and froze when his fingers wrapped around a familiar token deep inside the bandit’s pocket.  He knew what it was before he even pulled it out and he barely heard Issei’s sharp inhale of recognition.

It seemed that no matter how much time passed or how much distance they covered the past was determined to chase them down and make them face it.

 

 

“You can go,” Hajime said.  His eyes were distant as he flipped the token between his fingers idly.  “But we’re not coming.  You promised Issei he’d never go back and I’m not letting you break that promise.  And I’m not leaving him alone.”

“Forever our protector,” Daichi murmured.

“Someone has to be.”  Daichi dropped his head onto Hajime’s shoulder and plucked the token from his fingers. Without Hajime and Issei there it wasn’t going to be easy and it was, more likely than not, going to be messy. “And if you take Yahaba with please remember that neither of you are actually invincible superheros.  No matter what Tanaka tries to tell you.  As much as I pretend otherwise sometimes I really do prefer you in one piece.”

“Aw, Hajime,” Daichi cooed and nuzzled at Hajime’s cheek, “you really do care.”

Hajime stared at the mountains in the distance and sighed softly.  “Just finish it once and for all and then come back to me.  To us.”

Daichi pulled Hajime into his lap and buried his face against Hajime’s neck, warm and secure, pulse beating steadily.

“No matter how far we stray from each other I’ll find my way back.  I always do, Hajime.  You know that.”


	7. Chapter 7

The lagoon was a bright jewel in the afternoon light, shimmering and glimmering and shining and sparkling under the sun, its beaches soft and warm, its water cool an clear.  Bright flickers of color appeared in the rippling water, tiny little droplets and splashes breaching the surface.  It was beautiful and serene and safe and Hajime wasn’t looking at a single part of it.  Issei had his feet in the water, kicking slowly and watching the water ripple out from his legs.

A silver and black tail splashed water up into his face.  Hajime scowled as he glared down into the water and Bokuto popped back up to the surface, face the perfect picture of innocence, and folded his arms onto ground next to Hajime’s hip.  He dropped his chin onto his arms and stared up at Hajime, blinking rather owlishly at him.

It should be relaxing.  Comfortable.  A well deserved rest after the chaos of their last few weeks.

Without Daichi there it was too quiet.  Too serene.  Too peaceful.

Yamaguchi popped up on Hajime’s other side, his tail a brilliant gold and red and silver carefully twitching through the water as he mirrored Bokuto’s pose.

“Still no word from him?” Yamaguchi asked softly.  

Hajime shook his head and the mermaids shared a sympathetic glance.

While they didn’t exactly have any plans he wasn’t sure how much longer he and Issei would be able to stay here.  They weren’t made for staying in one place for too long.  Just one of the many reasons their stint in university never really worked out.  Daichi was out there dealing with some of the other reasons it didn’t work and while Hajime didn’t regret not going with Daichi not knowing what had happened or was still happening with him was starting to eat away at Hajime.  He was sure that Daichi was safe, he was too stubborn not to be and he had left with Yahaba and Tanaka and Tsukishima as back up so barring some kind of absolute end of the world apocalypse happening outside the lagoon that none of them knew about… Daichi was safe and sound.

He just should have met up with them here at least three days ago, if not more.  Hajime was getting worried, and so was Issei.

A fish landed in Hajime’s lap with a wet slap and he jerked at the feel, looking down to scold Bokuto only to find that it was Yamaguchi grinning up at him; Bokuto had slipped away to talk with Issei.

“He’ll be back.”

“I know.  He always comes back.”  Hajime tried to push the fish back into the lagoon but Yamaguchi just tossed it back into his lap.

“You need to eat.  Start up a fire and Kou and I will get you a couple more.”

Hajime wasn’t the best cook, none of them were really, but he was good enough that he could manage without turning it into charcoal and before long he and Issei were settling down on the beach with their meal.

“If he’s hurt I’m gonna kill him,” Issei grumbled after he finished eating and collapsed sideways with his head in Hajime’s lap.  Bokuto and Yamaguchi had their heads tilted together as they murmured to each other and watched Hajime and Issei from the water.

Hajime was about to respond when a shadow covered the lagoon and a moment later something hit the water.  Daichi popped to the surface and threw a string of impressively poetic curses at Kyoutani as he flew away into the nearby forest.

Daichi was a bit bruised and scraped but he was alive and Issei was draped across his lap like an overgrown cat and tugging gently at his necklace to get Daichi to bend forward for a kiss.  Hajime leaned against Daichi’s back and watched the stars slowly lighting up the sky high above them.  The water lapped gently at the shore in the background and Daichi’s laugh rumbled through into Hajime’s chest and finally the lagoon felt like the peaceful respite it was supposed to be.

Hajime’s pack vibrated a few feet away and he frowned at it, unwilling to inspect it.  This was their moment of peace.  Their chance to breath in clean air and listen to birds chirp and watch soft waves break upon the shore.  Their slip of a vacation before the world tied knots around them again and yanked them back into the fray.  His pack vibrated again and he felt Daichi’s back stiffen against his own.

He refused.  Not today.

His pack vibrated almost violently this time and Daichi sighed.

“You realize ignoring him will just make it worse in the end, right?”

“Oikawa can go to hell,” Hajime stated calmly.

“Um, babe.  He’s already kind of there.”

Issei finally sat up and peered at Hajime’s pack as it vibrated hard enough to carry it across the sand a few inches.  “Uh who’s Oikawa?”

Daichi twisted and pressed a kiss to Hajime’s temple before rolling over to drag Hajime’s pack closer.

“Don’t worry.  I’ll answer it.”

“One day,” Hajime muttered as he glared at his pack as Daichi dug through it.  “Can we not get just one day of relaxation and walking through the woods and enjoying nature and all that?”

“You kind of hate nature,” Daichi reminded him with a laugh.

“If my choices are dealing with whatever demon shit Oikawa is about to drag us into or dealing with nature I’ll chose nature.”

“Come on,” Daichi glanced over his shoulder with a grin and, not for the first time, Hajime acknowledged that he would follow Daichi to the ends of the world and back without hesitation.  “It’ll be an adventure.”


End file.
